Michelle
Vandermaas, Child Life"I would like to
recognize Michelle for helping out
the family of my patient. I am a
PICU nurse and have been taking
care of a sick 10-year-old boy. My
patient's prognosis had worsened,
and the parents knew they needed
to explain this to his siblings,
but were at a loss as to what to
say. I contacted Michelle and she
came in on her day off to help." Nominated
by Katherine Baldwin

Sarah
Cline, Meduflex Team"A patient that Sarah
saw for the first time was going
to have a tube surgically placed
later that day. The clinical
reasoning behind placing the tube
(including ventilator weaning and
long term nasal tube enteral
feedings) seemed to justify such
an invasive procedure for this
patient. He had not tolerated
swallowing without becoming
nauseated. He not only tolerated
the procedure, but was allowed to
have a regular diet."Nominated
by Alexandra Milhaupt

Janice Petrilla, MRI Clinical
Services"Janice has been
instrumental in supporting,
encouraging and educating our
patients in the Epilepsy Center.
Recently there was a patient
undergoing surgery — she called
his wife throughout the day to
offer support. Janice took her
lunch break to go visit this
family bringing his wife an angel
and a flower."Nominated
by Kelly Cavins

Brittany
Perry, 8E"Our patient, Smiles,
has a long psychiatric history and
an organic brain injury due to a
stroke and abuse — all played a
part in Smiles' dynamics. Her
caretaker died suddenly and
violently and there was no one to
care for her. Brittany took charge
of all of Smiles' needs while
still tending to her other
patients."Nominated
by Cindy Little

Letter of
thanks to Stuart, team

By Kevin
McDerby
A Patient's Father

In the
fall of 1992, my son, Sean
McDerby, entered the Corp of
Cadets at The Citadel. I thought
his freshman year as a "knob"
would be about the most
difficult challenge he would
face in life. It didn't take
long to realize that I was sadly
mistaken.

Sean McDerby

The summer
after his freshman year, Sean
studied abroad in Spain. Upon
returning to The Citadel, he
became involved in several extra
activities. Those activities
included skydiving and rugby. It
was after a rugby match that I was
contacted by a doctor from the
college infirmary. Sean reported
to the infirmary after he was
severely bruised during the match.
The doctor had a serious concern
after reviewing the blood work
that he had ordered. Sean's
platelet count was extremely low.
The doctor scheduled an
appointment with a hematologist in
the Charleston area. That doctor
was unable to identify Sean's
disorder. Sean returned home to
Delaware for more medical
evaluations. It was after those
evaluations that we learned how
seriously ill Sean was.

We had
never heard of a blood disorder
called aplastic anemia until a
local doctor presented us with
his suspicions. He explained the
gravity of the disease and then
cautioned us not to start doing
research on our own. The doctor
added that he could treat Sean
as well as any other doctor in
the United States. Always one to
follow the doctor's orders, my
wife and I began to explore what
it meant to be afflicted with
aplastic anemia. To put it
mildly — we found that we only
had one chance to save Sean's
life.

The
research that we were warned not
to do led us to the Aplastic
Anemia Foundation. Marilyn
Baker, the executive director of
the foundation, told us she was
not in a position to recommend a
treatment center for Sean. She
went on to explain the she would
have different sets of parents
contact us and tell us what
their families experienced when
their child was diagnosed with
aplastic anemia. Each set of
parents delivered the same
message — contact Dr. Robert K.
Stuart at the Medical University
of South Carolina. It was only a
coincidence that Dr. Stuart was
located close to The Citadel in
Charleston.

Dr.
Stuart welcomed Sean as a new
patient. Dr. Stuart continued to
monitor Sean's condition until
it was determined that our son
would need a bone marrow
transplant. Fortunately, Sean's
fraternal twin, Scott, was an
excellent match to be a donor.
Sean requested a medical
discharge from The Citadel in
the first semester of his junior
year.

Dr.
Stuart's team at MUSC included
Dr. Debra Frei-Lahr and nurse
practitioner Christine Schaub.
Without a doubt, this group of
dedicated medical professionals
combined their talents and saved
the life of our son. They
actually saved Sean twice.
Shortly after Sean was
discharged into the care of the
doctors at home, he developed a
severe case of acute
graft-versus-host disease. Sean
was near death when the team at
MUSC dispatched its plane to
Delaware to bring him back to
South Carolina.

Although
Sean still had lingering effects
from chronic graft-versus-host,
he was well enough to return to
The Citadel. Sean's fellow
cadets whom he entered The
Citadel with would be graduating
as the Class of 1996. Sean was
too far behind in his studies to
be part of the graduation in
June. He was still determined to
be part of the Class of '96. He
doubled his courses and
completed his studies in time
for a December '96 graduation.
He is indeed a member of The
Citadel Class of 1996. His
membership was in large part
because of his own fight and
determination, but it was made
possible through the efforts of
Dr. Stuart and his excellent
team at MUSC.

Upon
graduation, Dr. Stuart made
arrangements for Sean to have
follow-up care at the Graft vs.
Host Clinic at Johns Hopkins
University. Dr. Georgia B.
Vogelsang and nurse practitioner
Vicki Anders took Sean under
their wings. He had his extreme
battles with the
graft-versus-host disease, but
with the excellent care provided
at JHU, Sean was able of fulfill
his lifelong dream. In 1998,
Sean became a trooper with the
Delaware State Police. Sean has
recently been transferred to the
aviation section within the
state police. He has started an
18-month course to become a
trooper medic. His desire to be
a medic was born out of his own
fight for life battling aplastic
anemia. As they say, pictures
say 1,000 words. The smile on
his face tells it all. With the
support of many, faith in God
and his doctors, Sean fought the
good fight and has overcome all
odds.

While
writing this article we learned
about the passing of Dr. Debra
Frei-Lahr. She lost her battle
to cancer, a disease that she
had saved so many from. Our
thoughts and prayers are with
her family.

Friday,
Sept. 30, 2011

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